Some rural roads have become impassible to buses

Published: Saturday, August 31, 2013 at 08:28 PM.

YOUNGSTOWN — Parents are seeking other options after school district buses refused to go down ragged roads, leaving 49 elementary students without a shuttle service to school.

Bay District School District officials have classified several roads in areas zoned for Waller Elementary as “impassable,” and parents were notified on the first day of school that buses would not pick up and drop off on those roads any longer.

On Monday, a group of citizens met with county officials at the Bayou George Community Center to discuss the poor quality of roads. Resident Ryan Faulk said the meeting wasn’t very effective; however, it was sobering for them to hear county officials speak about road repair options.

“The meeting was disorganized, but I agree … we need to go after the guy who started this whole mess,” said Faulk, whose 7-year-old daughter Aubrey Faulk was dropped off at a different location than previous rides after the bus driver told her the bus couldn’t go down the road she lives on.

Bob Downin, the director of transportation at Bay District Schools, attended the meeting and said all he could do was answer questions, but the school district isn’t going to allow buses to pick up or drop off at those locations.

“It can rain and get muddy and we can go down (the roads), and that’s not an issue,” Downin said. “But when it rains and rains and there’s a river through the streets … (the tires) are going to get stuck.

“I told (parents at the meeting) I can’t jeopardize 20 to 30 kids on the bus and put them in danger to pick up one, two or three children,” he said.

YOUNGSTOWN — Parents are seeking other options after school district buses refused to go down ragged roads, leaving 49 elementary students without a shuttle service to school.

Bay District School District officials have classified several roads in areas zoned for Waller Elementary as “impassable,” and parents were notified on the first day of school that buses would not pick up and drop off on those roads any longer.

On Monday, a group of citizens met with county officials at the Bayou George Community Center to discuss the poor quality of roads. Resident Ryan Faulk said the meeting wasn’t very effective; however, it was sobering for them to hear county officials speak about road repair options.

“The meeting was disorganized, but I agree … we need to go after the guy who started this whole mess,” said Faulk, whose 7-year-old daughter Aubrey Faulk was dropped off at a different location than previous rides after the bus driver told her the bus couldn’t go down the road she lives on.

Bob Downin, the director of transportation at Bay District Schools, attended the meeting and said all he could do was answer questions, but the school district isn’t going to allow buses to pick up or drop off at those locations.

“It can rain and get muddy and we can go down (the roads), and that’s not an issue,” Downin said. “But when it rains and rains and there’s a river through the streets … (the tires) are going to get stuck.

“I told (parents at the meeting) I can’t jeopardize 20 to 30 kids on the bus and put them in danger to pick up one, two or three children,” he said.

While school district officials tell parents that immediate options include dropping children off at an alternate bus stop or taking children to school themselves, county officials are pointing to longer term options.

According to Bay County assessment coordinator Shannon Chamberlain, affected citizens can independently hire a contractor to do road repairs, petition the owner of the roads to maintain roads or get them paved and repaired through a county program called Municipal Service Benefit Unit.

“We can get it paved for them,” Chamberlain said, noting that under the program the county would pay upfront costs associated with consulting and manage the roads.

However, “Eventually they’re going to pay for all of it,” she said. “All of the owners — whichever road we do; we can do groups at a time or one road — they’ll pay us back.”

Citizens would pay through assessments on their annual property tax bill over 10 years.

Chamberlain said if citizens are interested in the latter option, the first step would be to contact the owner of the private roads, Panama Pines in this case, and request the roads be signed over to the county. After that point, on the condition the roads are built according to county standards, the county would become owner of the roads and maintain them.

However, until the roads are repaired, children will not be picked up and dropped off at former bus stops that were closer to their homes, school district officials said.

Downin said if the road dries out and become passable, the school district may allow buses to go down them.

“We will reassess it as need be,” Downin said, noting buses will not go every other day even if every other day the roads become passable. He said to do so would confuse parents and drivers.

“We’ll make every effort to communicate with parents,” he added. “We want to pick up the kids.”

Downin said the department will use IRIS — a parent notification system — and busbulletin.com, where parents can sign up for text, email and voice notifications, to inform them when and if buses will pick children up at old locations. The department may also look into sending children home with letters to parents.

Radio and communication woes

The two months of heavy rains didn’t only further damage already unkempt roads, but radios at Bay District Schools’ transportation department were hit as well. And since laws bar bus drivers from using cellphones, radio is the only means of communication drivers have with one another and to the department’s headquarters.

“When we transmit from here, it goes out to all of those repeaters — towers, which covers the entire area,” Downin said. “But during all the storms we’ve had, we’ve had lightning hit those” and two of three towers are down.

“So, we’re not getting out to the two other towers,” Downin said.

While no children have been lost, he said, several have unaccounted-for hours after having been on wrong buses. While the buses in the bus fleet have GPS, the system is not working yet, so the department must send officials to locate buses to see if a student is on a bus.

“It has been difficult for drivers to hear. Their message will break up or we can hear them at all,” he said, noting drivers can stop the bus on the side of a road and call from a cellphone. “But that delays the transportation part.”

The school district has authorized repairs for a tower near Deane Bozeman. Downin said that will help with some of the communication issues.

Downin said the department has 12 employees at the transportation department’s call center who are available to answer parents’ questions, especially as it relates to locating their child.

“It’s not an easy fix,” he said of the downed towers. “It’s not an inexpensive fix.”

He said in the upcoming weeks, the department is expecting to have the Bozeman tower repaired, 10 new buses come in and more substitute drivers on hand. He believes the additions “will make it run smooth.”

Also, Zonar cards, which track elementary students’ traffic on buses, will be helpful with locating children quicker and more accurately. Downin said the department has not set a date to when the Zonar cards will be used.

Communication is key for many parents, including Faulk.

He said his family was not notified his 7-year-old daughter would be told to walk home. He said had the notification been given, he wouldn’t be as disappointed in the school district’s transportation department.

“Morally — being an adult — who in their right mind would let a 7-year-old off the bus after she said she can’t walk home by herself, and just leave her there,” he said. “It’s only going to take one time for someone to pick someone up and abduct them or run them over, and then what?

“It was never about us having to go down to the end of the road,” Faulk said. “It was the breakdown of communication.”